


Undercover Boyfriend

by cedaris



Category: Winner (Band)
Genre: M/M, this is literally the fake dating au im sorry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-16
Updated: 2016-08-06
Packaged: 2018-07-24 09:13:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7502652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cedaris/pseuds/cedaris
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mino would consider Taehyun and Seungyoon friends, by some stretch of the word, even though the closest thing to friendship they had was sobbing over finals textbooks together and despairing over the rest of their lives as potential starving artists. </p><p>So he was reasonably confused when Seungyoon cornered him on Friday morning and begged him to be his boyfriend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i've always wanted to try my hand at the fake boyfriends trope so this mess happened i'm so sorry. this will probably have about 3 or 4 chapters, so stay with me (and trust that i won't screw this up. please).
> 
> i'm dedicating my first multi-chapter to minyoon, i can't believe i'm an actual trashcan
> 
> comment and kudos make my day~
> 
>  
> 
> [talk to me](https://twitter.com/yooniesam)

If anyone asked who Seungyoon was to him, Mino would say colleague. Maybe close acquaintance. An almost-friend. 

They weren't strangers, at the very least. Every morning when he entered the cafe with a bleary yawn and a sheepish grin, Seungyoon chuckled empathetically and discreetly slid a cup of coffee over to him behind the counter.. He was a quiet but pleasant person, and Mino enjoyed his company even though they didn’t talk much. Taehyun, on the other hand, was a different story; he was just a little cold, a little distant, and definitely not as friendly as Seungyoon was. But Mino could tell he was a good person, in his incessant nagging at the both of them to stop drinking so much coffee, in the thoughtless way he offered to open the shop in the morning because he knew his colleagues were hopeless at waking up early, and in the gentle curve of his eyes when he smiled. The two of them were music majors in the college Mino went to, while he was in the art department. They shared a sense of camaraderie that probably stemmed from being broke college students working part-time in a coffee shop in some desperate attempt to pay their dues.

Mino would consider Taehyun and Seungyoon friends, by some stretch of the word, even though the closest thing to friendship they had was sobbing over finals textbooks together in the back of the cafe and despairing over the rest of their lives as potential starving artists. 

So he was reasonably confused when Seungyoon cornered him on Friday morning as he walked into the shop and begged him to be his boyfriend.

“Please, it’s just for the weekend, my annoying brother is coming back from his masters overseas and he won’t stop bugging me about my love life and if I don’t show up to dinner with someone he’s never gonna let it go and—”

“Wait, wait, wait, hold up. Calm down. Okay.” Mino rubbed at his eyes tiredly. He definitely wasn’t awake enough for this. “So you want me to, what, fake-date you? Why? Why can’t Taehyun do it?”

Seungyoon gave him the most deadpan expression he’d ever seen, and Mino glanced around him to find Taehyun raising an eyebrow at him as if to say, “really, dude?”

“...Do you think Nam Taehyun, of all people, would do a favour like that for me? Anyway, my brother’s met him before.”

Mino just stared. Seungyoon waited, then seemed to realise something and began flustering again.

“Are you like, not into that? You’re not gay or whatever? I mean, I thought my gay ass was being pretty obvious. Oh god, are you a homophobe? Listen, I don’t know what is it with you people but mind your own business and leave gay people alon—”

“I’m not homophobic, relax. I’m bi, actually.”

Seungyoon’s eyes lit up like Christmas tree lights. It was kind of cute.

“Perfect! So you’re good to go. Saturday, 6pm, at—”

“No, no, no, no, no, no. No. I never said yes.”

“Please?”

“This is ridiculous.”

“I’ll do your math elective homework for a week.”

“...A month.”

“Two weeks.”

And because Mino really sucked at anything related to numbers and Seungyoon was some kind of natural-born academic genius, he sighed and agreed and let Seungyoon cheer and pull him into a hug in gratitude. Taehyun looked on, mouth quirked in a mildly amused smirk.

Mino glared at him. Taehyun shrugged.

~~~~  
“Wait, are you free after this?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Okay, so I was thinking,” Seungyoon mused, leaning back against the counter. The cafe was relatively empty now, in the late afternoon and near to closing time, except for a few stragglers on their laptops and leeching off the free wifi. Taehyun was dozing in the back. Mino poured himself a glass of water.

“That’s never a good thing,” he muttered wryly, and Seungyoon poked him in his side. 

“I was thinking,” he continued. “You should come to my dorm tomorrow morning so we can get to know each other better.”

Mino choked on the water and Seungyoon had to spend the next few minutes patting him on the back until he could breathe again.

“What.”

“You know, just to like, make sure we know weird couple-y things about each other. Like, what’s your favourite colour?”

“Wow, very romantic. It’s black, by the way.”

“I like red. See, we’re making progress! So, see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, yeah, sure.”

~~~~  
Mino had never been to Seungyoon and Taehyun’s dormitory before, and he’d found with some surprise that the address Seungyoon had texted him wasn’t far from his place on the east side of campus. Their room was on the third floor, fourth one from the main landing. Mino knocked on the door. 

There was silence for a moment, then Mino heard Taehyun’s voice, gravelly with sleep and extremely annoyed, “for God’s sake Seungyoon, go get the door for your boyfriend and stop making my life difficult”. Some worrying crashing noises came from behind the door, then the knob turned and Seungyoon poked his head out, bleary-eyed and ruffled, giving him a sleepy smile in greeting. 

“Thanks for coming. I didn’t know if you would.” He yawned and turned away to let Mino in and Mino realised very abruptly that he wasn’t wearing a shirt. He glanced quickly away at the first thing he could find, which happened to be a lamp sitting on a little table beside the sofa. Right. Lamp. Lamps were cool. He liked lamps. This one had a particularly glaring shade of pink on the lamp shade but that was fine and what had Seungyoon said again?

“Oh yeah, sure, I-I mean, of course I’d come, I keep my promises,” he stuttered, mentally congratulating himself on not messing up his words too much. Seungyoon smiled at him again and disappeared down the hallway to presumably put on a shirt (dear God, he hoped that was what he was doing because he’d never been so stressed in his life) and Mino stood listlessly in the living room, desperately trying to will the colour off his cheeks. 

“You’re really doing this, huh?” Taehyun padded in and plopped down on the sofa, sighing tiredly. Mino followed suit and sat gingerly down beside him.

“Yeah, I mean, no big deal right? I get it, my mum’s always on my back about dating too,” Mino leaned back on the couch. He liked Taehyun. He was relatively easy to talk to if he didn’t hate your guts, and he didn’t always expect a response either. The silence was comfortable.

“You guys are so blind,” Taehyun muttered suddenly, then resumed staring into space like he’d never said anything. Mino blinked.

“Hey, sorry, I’m back. Hi.” Seungyoon flopped down next to Mino, wearing a Pikachu-print T-shirt and polka-dotted pajama pants. His hair was a little neater, and he was a lot more awake, tapping away at something on his phone.

“Okay, so, we’ll set off to my brother’s around 6pm and he’s asked us to stay for a night.” He winced and glanced at Mino. “Is that okay?”

Mino sighed. “Yeah, sure. Can’t do anything about that.”

“Look, I’m really sorry. And grateful. Really grateful. I—”

“I already said it’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

“Right. So.”

An awkward pause. Mino studied the wallpaper. It was a boring, standard shade of off-white.

“Ugh, you guys are such virgins, I’ll handle this,” Taehyun said, rolling his eyes

~~~~  
Mino didn’t know what he expected from fake-dating, but he definitely wasn’t prepared for Taehyun’s Guide To Pretending You’re In Love: Limited Edition..

“You’ve gotta learn to be natural around each other first. You need to show up to the door holding hands and shit and be all cute so your brother won’t suspect a thing.”

“Pet names. Call each other babe and shit. You could call Seungyoon Yoonie, it sounds cute. No, don’t protest, Seungyoon. And I think it’s okay if he just calls you Mino since your name is already pretty short.”

“You need to know trivia about each other. Favourite food, movies, books. Habits. They’re gonna ask.”

“...”

“And stop being such a baby, Seungyoon, just hold his hand.”

Eventually, Taehyun got tired of bossing them around and announced he was off to finish up some music theory homework their professor had left them. "Work on the couple thing. Like, bond or something" he'd instructed before he left. 

Seungyoon stared holes into the wall resolutely. Mino was beside him, they were alone, and God this was so fucking awkward.

Suddenly, he felt fingers sliding between his own and almost recoiled in surprise. He looked up, and Mino was trying his best to look at anything but Seungyoon, blush high on his cheeks.

"W-we should probably get used to the hand-holding thing, you know? It's the most basic dating rule."

"Oh. Right. Okay."

~~~~  
The two of them ended up talking and ordering takeout at noon and attempting to lure Taehyun out with greasy Chinese food, but the youngest had simply picked up a box of it and retreated back into his bedroom to compose more music. Sometimes Mino wondered if Taehyun was even human; he seemed to survive solely on music and solitude.

Whatever. Mino wasn't like Taehyun and Seungyoon warm against him made him happy. The two of them were squished together on the sofa, socked feet tucked under their crossed legs, watching what was possibly one of the worst romantic comedies he'd ever seen.

"I don't know if this is comedy because they actually wrote it like one or because it's so bad," Mino scoffed as the female lead spilled coffee on the male lead and the two of them looked up at each other, metaphorical sparks exploding in the air around them. Seungyoon sniggered and pushed at his thigh with a foot.

"Don't be rude, it's not that bad."

"He literally serenaded the girl with EXO. EXO, Seungyoon.”

“You underestimate the power of bubblegum pop songs in making people fall in love.”

“I’m not going to fake date you any more.”

“Okay, okay, geez.”

There was a comfortable silence. The TV droned on. The lovers kissed or something, Mino wasn’t sure. He scooted a little closer to Seungyoon on the couch.

“Speaking of which, what are your favourite dramas?”

“Hmm. I’d say The Lover because Takuya and Junjae were gold. That’s one gay relationship that doesn’t end in tears and flames. Coffee Prince was interesting but like, they were still straight in the end.”

“Huh, are gay couples a running theme of shows you like?”

“You have no idea how hard it is to find decent representation in Korean media.”

“Okay, that’s true. What about Reply 1997?”

“God no, I cried when Junhee got rejected. Hit a bit too close to home, personally.”

“What, the guys you like usually turn out to be straight?”

“Unfortunately.”

Mino laughed and closed his eyes. The noise from the TV was a pleasant buzz in the background. He suddenly felt very tired and Seungyoon made a comfortable human pillow. If he just…

~~~~  
“When I said bond, I didn’t expect this.”

Taehyun’s voice trembled with barely-restrained laughter. Mino opened his eyes slowly and blinked a few times, watching idly as the room swam into focus. He was hugging something warm and soft and he—

Mino sat up abruptly, displacing Seungyoon from his place snuggled into his side, eyes wide. Taehyun was openly laughing now, as Seungyoon rubbed at his eyes and squinted at the clock on the wall.

“It’s 5.30pm, you lazy asses. Go get ready.” Taehyun flounced off down the hallway while Seungyoon yelped and hurried to his bedroom to change. Mino tried to become one with the couch.

~~~  
“Taehyun’s coming too?”

“Yeah. My brother likes him more than he likes me, probably.”

“Your brother’s just way more fun than you are. I still have that video he took of you drunk and—”

Seungyoon slapped a hand over Taehyun’s mouth as they walked to the subway. It was a nice evening, with gentle breezes and silent roads. Mino breathed deeply as they argued, at once basking in the tranquil evening air and preparing himself for the worst decision he’d ever made in his life. Maybe he’d look back at it and laugh..

Seungyoon hadn’t been very forthcoming with details about his brother, but Mino figured that was just because he’d never asked. He tried to imagine a slightly older version of him, with a different hairstyle and a different face, maybe taller, but still sharing the same kind of quiet optimism that Seungyoon possessed. He wondered how alike they were.

“What’s Seungyoon’s brother like?”

Seungyoon groaned. Taehyun laughed and elbowed him.

“You’ll see,” Taehyun said wryly.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and...it's lee seunghoon! congrats to everyone who guessed our baby lion :D
> 
> chapter 2 is here, featuring stupid couple minyoon and old married couple jinhoon~
> 
> updates from now will be a lot slower because i have to start preparing for exams, i'm sorry :(
> 
> thank you to everyone who read and kudos-ed and commented ily <3333
> 
> [my twitter is here](https://twitter.com/yooniesam)

Seunghoon was nothing like what he'd expected. 

Mino had envisioned some kind of bookish, nice guy, not unlike Seungyoon. He hadn't been ready for the absolute whirlwind that was Seunghoon.

He was the sort of person that you heard before you saw, and Seungyoon hadn't even opened the door all the way when there came a long, loud cry of "SEUNGYOON-AHHHH" and a ball of energy rushed to pull Seungyoon into a hug. Seungyoon was completely unfazed, raising a hand to pat Seunghoon's head in a wearily fond way. Taehyun laughed and spread his arms for Seunghoon to draw him tightly in as well. Mino just stared.

"Oh, my cute little babies have grown up. I feel like it was just yesterday Seungyoon was fighting over juice boxes with me and smushing food in my face." Seunghoon wiped imaginary tears from his cheeks and turned to Mino.

"And who's this? Oh, no, no, no, wait don't tell me. Have you finally found yourself a boyfriend, Seungyoon? Oh my god, I'm so happy, I was worried you were going to die a virgin, you know. What's your name?"

Frankly, Seunghoon's lightning-fast way of talking spun Mino's head and he struggled to catch up, but he managed to right himself enough that he could extend a hand and say, "my name is Mino, nice to meet you."

"I'm Seunghoon, nice to meet you! Seungyoon, you brat, you never told me about him, you landed a good one you know! I mean, I'd even say I expected him to be out of your league--"

Seungyoon groaned and pushed past Seunghoon in the doorway. "Can we at least enter before you start hyper-analysing my love life? Honestly, hyung." 

"Sure, sure," Seunghoon agreed breezily, letting Taehyun and Mino through the entryway as well. He slung an arm around Taehyun as he closed the door.

"You've gotten taller haven't you! You better not outgrow me you punk, that's just an insult to me as your elder. How have you been? Eating well? Sleeping well? I know what you're like, Seungyoon better have taken care of you." He shot Seungyoon a glare while Taehyun giggled, and Seungyoon muttered to Mino under his breath, "see? My own brother likes Taehyun over me."

“If you actually texted me back you’d see my love for you! You never reply me,” Seunghoon huffed just as a shout of “Lee Seunghoon!” (Lee? Mino thought Seungyoon’s surname was Kang.) came from the kitchen. A man emerged, wiping sauce on his apron and glaring crossly at Seunghoon. “You forgot to turn off the oven again, you know, how many times—”

He stopped as he took in the four curious faces in the living room and he seemed to light up instantly. He was shorter than Seunghoon, with striking silver hair that suited him, but would not have boded well for most people. His huge, kind eyes crinkled up at the edges as he came forward to embrace Seungyoon and Taehyun, who both screamed “Jinwoo-hyung!” at the same time and rushed to put their arms around him. 

“If anything, both of them like my boyfriend more than me. I’m jealous,” Seunghoon sniffed as he popped up out of the blue at Mino’s side. Mino gave him a nervous smile. “Relax, I’m protective of Seungyoonie but I can tell you’re a good guy. At least, I hope so.” He narrowed his eyes. “What are your intentions with my little brother?”

Mino tried to stammer out a halfway decent answer, boring holes into Seungyoon’s back where he and Taehyun were still in the middle of tearfully greeting Jinwoo, until he finally turned and noticed his discomfort. He seemed to hesitate for a beat, then came up to Mino, wrapping a loose hand around his wrist and pulling him away. His fingers trembled a little against Mino’s skin.

“Don’t interrogate him, hyung. He’s nervous enough as it is,” Seungyoon pleaded over Seunghoon’s hyena laughter. He caught Mino’s shoulder just as Seungyoon was about to lead him somewhere else, anywhere else, and pointed down a hallway with a placating smile.

“Okay, okay, come on, I’ll show you your rooms for the night. You too, Taehyun.”

Their apartment was pretty huge, with a total of five rooms: the three bedrooms, the living room, and the kitchen. Seunghoon led them past what Mino presumed to be the master bedroom, judging by the childish but strangely endearing sign that hung from the door reading “Lee Seunghoon + Kim Jinwoo”, generously sprinkled with tacky heart-shaped stickers and kissy emoticons. The word “Kim” had been playfully crossed out and had “Lee” written over it, but not obvious enough that one would spot it immediately from afar. Mino smiled at the sign. Even if he had only known Seunghoon and Jinwoo for about ten minutes, he could tell that they loved each other a lot. Absent-mindedly, he hoped that they would last a long time together, and in the deeper recesses of his heart, wished for someone who would love him the same way. 

“Seungyoon-ah, Mino-ssi, this will be your room. And Taehyun, over here....”

Taehyun wandered off with Seunghoon, leaving Mino and Seungyoon to stare at their room in disbelief.

It was a nice room, really. The walls were painted a calming shade of turquoise, the windows were furnished with rose-patterened drapes, and there was a quaint little wardrobe for them to stow their belongings away in. It was a nice room, and Mino appreciated Seunghoon’s hospitality, he really did.

The problem was, the room only had one bed.

The queen-sized mattress was a metaphorical (and quite literal) elephant in the room. Mino eyed it nervously, and cast a glance at Seungyoon; he was just as frozen. Well.

“Look, I’m really sorry, I didn’t expect—oh my god. I hate my brother. I guess we’ll have to stick it out for tonight then you can, like, never talk to me again. I’m so sorry, I—”

“It’s fine, I should have thought of this. Um, if you’re okay with this, then I guess I am too? It’s no big deal, really. If you want, we could say the magic words ‘no homo’ before we go to bed and—”

Seungyoon laughed at this, smacking Mino on the arm. Mino watched his eyes curve into adorable little crescents and the corner of his lips turn up in amusement at his joke (at his joke), then quickly snapped himself out of it. 

Mino was slowly realising that he liked making Seungyoon laugh, and it was a distressing discovery.

Suddenly, he found himself pulled into a warm hug, Seungyoon’s arms winding around his waist. Startled, he slowly put his hands on his back and desperately told himself it didn’t mean anything. Seungyoon was an affectionate person. He hugged Seunghoon and he hugged Jinwoo and sometimes he even managed to hug Taehyun without getting physically injured. It was how Seungyoon showed his love for people. It didn’t mean anything.

“Thank you so much, I’m so sorry I’m asking so much of you, I’ll buy you lunch for a week and—”

MIno chuckled, patted him on the back. Seungyoon didn’t let go. He buried his face deeper into the crook between Mino’s shoulder and neck, like he was melting in his arms.

“Oi, when I said get a boyfriend I didn’t mean PDA in front of your brother, Yoon-ah. I just showed you your room, so get a room.”

Seungyoon groaned and pulled away. Seunghoon stood smirking in front of them with a heavily-amused Taehyun in tow, and Mino kind of wanted the ground to open up and swallow him.

“Come for dinner when you’re ready, lovebirds. Don’t let the food go cold though.”

~~~~  
"Full name?"

"Song Minho."

"Age?"

"23."

"Huh, you’re a year older. Major?"

"Art."

"I didn't know you were into artists, Yoon-ah. Anyway. Mino-ssi, how do you feel about--"

"Stop interrogating him, hyung, seriously. It's weird."

“Okay, okay. Mino-ssi. Mino? Can I call you Mino?”

Mino took a drink of water and met Seunghoon’s eyes. They were gathered around the dining table in a circle, Seunghoon with Jinwoo on his right and Taehyun next to Jinwoo, Seungyoon next to Taehyun and Mino next to Seungyoon. Which also meant he was next to Seunghoon. Don’t get him wrong, he liked Seunghoon. He was easy to get along with, with his cheeky smile and bright energy, but he was also Seungyoon’s brother. And Mino couldn’t shake the feeling that he was watching him every step of the way, just waiting for him to slip up in this stupid fake-dating plan. 

He coughed. Cleared his throat. Nodded. Seunghoon continued.

“Okay, let’s get the complicated family history out of the way. Seungyoon and I aren’t blood brothers. Our own parents divorced and my dad and his mum married each other so we’re like, legal bros. It’s why we have different surnames, his mum insisted he keep hers. Point is, we grew up together anyway, so I won’t tolerate any funny business from you, Mino-ssi.”

"Let him be, Seunghoon, I think Seungyoon knows what he's doing." Jinwoo spoke before Seungyoon or Mino could protest, calmly scooping soup into his bowl. Mino immediately decided he liked Jinwoo more than Seunghoon.

"I'm just looking out for him, hyung," Seunghoon whined, leaning over to pinch Seungyoon's cheeks and make baby noises at him. "I can't let my cute little brother get hurt, can I? Aw, don't give me that face, you're adorable. How long have you been dating?"

"About two months," Mino replied quickly. They'd planned this. Two months was a good approximate, Seungyoon had decided. If they ended the fake dating thing shortly after, it wouldn't seem like a big deal because they'd only been together so long. Seunghoon wouldn't hate Mino that much, and they could go on with their separate lives in peace. Hypothetically. "We haven't dated long, but I really like Seungyoon." 

He aimed his most charming smile at Seunghoon, then glanced over to shoot Seungyoon what he hoped was a loving gaze, or whatever couples did. He was going off the embarrassingly large collection of trashy romance movies and books he owned, and he prayed he was doing well. He took Seungyoon's hand on impulse, knowing Seunghoon could see the gap between their chairs. Seungyoon grinned brightly at his brother. Taehyun stifled a snort.

"See, he's a good guy. Now anyway, how have you been, Seunghoon-hyung, Jinwoo-hyung. How was LA?"

Seunghoon squinted suspiciously at Mino one last time then turned on his mega-watt smile and started to recount his and Jinwoo's adventures in America.

"Man, I love LA. American people are wild, let me tell you. One time Jinwoo and I were at this bar and this guy came in and asked for a “sex on my face” and it’s an actual drink, dear lord..."

Mino breathed a sigh of relief he hadn't realised he'd been holding, and listened attentively to Seunghoon's animated retelling of his time in America. They'd dodged a bullet, he supposed. He only hoped there wouldn't be more.

~~~  
”Okay, okay. Never have I ever…received a noise complaint after sex.”

Mino wrinkled his nose at Taehyun’s words and his bumbling laughter, then turned a horrified eye to Seunghoon and Jinwoo both calmly downing their shots. What.

At some point Seunghoon had broken out the soju and they'd started a terrible game of Never Have I Ever. They were sprawled out on the sticky alcohol-stained floor of the living room, with a few bottles of soju standing ominously in the middle of their little circle. Seunghoon was a hilarious lightweight; they hadn't even drunk much, and he was blabbering nonsense and snuggling up to Jinwoo like a cat. Mino thought he preferred drunk Seunghoon much more than sober, strict, scary Seunghoon.

And Mino had found out way more about Seunghoon and Jinwoo's sex life than he'd ever needed to know (mostly prompted by the most ridiculous ideas Taehyun could come up with). But that was fine. Mino could deal with sexual over-sharings. That wasn't the issue. 

The issue was Jinwoo had said "never have I ever liked someone older than me" and Seunghoon had grumbled about sabotage and knocked back a shot, and Seungyoon was considering his own shot glass like it was a deep dark secret he was hesitant to spill. Maybe it was.

Seungyoon put his glass back down. "If I drink any more I'll wake up with a headache tomorrow, hyung, let's stop."

"Awww don't b-be a spoil-spoilsport, Yoonie, we've b-barely started."

"You're drunk, hyung." 

"I-it's okay, I can—"

"You should stop now, Hoon-ah." Jinwoo nudged him gently, and he flopped onto the floor like a ragdoll, smiling giddily. 

"T-tell you what, Yoon-ah. I'll count it done if Mino takes the drink and," he paused dramatically, suddenly much more sober and very gleeful. "He has to kiss you on the mouth."

Taehyun cheered and Mino froze. There was static buzzing in his ears; kiss Seungyoon? This hadn't been in the plan. This hadn't been in the plan at all. He wasn't supposed to kiss Seungyoon. 

"Come on, he's your boyfriend, isn't he? You must have kissed before, it's not a big deal." Mino was wrong, he hated drunk Seunghoon.

"Please, Mino. Do it so we can end the game and take this one to bed," Jinwoo stage-whispered anxiously, and his eyes were so wide and pleading that Mino gave in. 

He picked up Seungyoon's shot and downed it in one go. The soju burned as it went down his throat, but he had a feeling the ache in his chest wasn't just from the alcohol. He faced Seungyoon, studied his shocked, nervous gaze, and tried to look apologetic. Seungyoon bit his lip. He was so close. He tipped forward on his knees, angled his face. 

And lost courage at the last moment. He left a kiss at the corner of Seungyoon's mouth, painfully tender and gentle and somehow not enough.

Mino felt like he couldn't move; like he was stuck inexorably in Seungyoon's orbit, circling his centre of gravity, unable to look away. The seconds ticked by. Mino could feel his warm breath on his cheek, quick and slightly stuttered.

Then Seungyoon shifted slightly from Mino and the spell broke. Mino drew back, heart racing, and God what had he just done.

Seungyoon wasn't looking at him.

"Okay, after that extremely awkward and intimate moment," Taehyun began, waving his shot glass around. "Let's just all go to bed, alright? I'll see you guys in the morning. Good night."

There was a chorus of "good night"s and sleepy yawns and Jinwoo hauling Seunghoon's incoherent ass to their bedroom. Mino blanched.

Oh god, the bedroom.

~~~  
"I'm gonna take a shower, might help me sober up." Seungyoon ducked quickly out of the room, leaving Mino alone. He groaned and flopped down on the bed, rolling around to get comfortable, and then curled into a fetal position to mope and contemplate his recent life choices. The facts were these: Mino had kissed Seungyoon, and Seungyoon was never going to talk to him again.

They hadn't been that close before, but after the veritable shitfest he'd gone through with and for Seungyoon, he was starting to really value him as a friend. He liked spending time with Seungyoon. He liked talking to him, laughing with him. And it would suck to lose him to misunderstandings and rashness. 

Mino was tired; the sort of tired that didn't beckon sleep, but soaked deep into your bones and followed you around like a shadow. The ticking of the alarm clock on the dresser was too loud. The whirr of speeding cars outside was too loud. The rush of his thoughts was too loud. 

He got up, padded out of the room and down the hallway to the kitchen for a drink of water, passed the bathroom, heard the drumming of the shower and tried not to think about what he'd say to Seungyoon when he inevitably returned to the room. The kitchen was still bright, curiously, and he found Jinwoo at the counter, nursing a glass of water. He raised his hand hesitantly in greeting, and Jinwoo smiled and patted the space next to him. Mino poured himself a cup from the jug sitting beside him, and sipped at it in silence. 

"Hello, Mino. Just Mino is fine right? What are you doing still up?"

"I couldn't sleep," Mino answered. There was something about Jinwoo that was especially genuine and kind, and his presence was like a mug of chamomile tea; mild, but sweet. Mino relaxed.

"Oh, I get it. Can't sleep without Seungyoon, right? Don't worry, he'll be done showering soon. Ah, young love, always so clingy." Jinwoo winked at him and Mino nearly choked. Jinwoo laughed as he spluttered. "Don't worry, I'm not Seunghoon. I don't really care what you do in that room, just keep it down, alright? The rest of us need to sleep."

He hummed nonchalantly and finished his drink, running his glass under the tap like he hadn't just utterly obliterated Mino's peace of mind. He tried to protest, but Jinwoo waved him off.

"It's okay, Seunghoon and I were like that once. It's been five years since. I kind of miss that first date feeling.”

“…what’s it like? To date for so long. Because I haven’t really seen people last—I mean, not that I think you won’t last but—“

Jinwoo laughed. “Relax, it’s alright. Hmm, let’s see. I think people usually don’t stay together long because they change, you know? And that’s just life, it’s fact that people change. You’ve just got to learn to change with each other, not against each other. Love’s not, like, automatic. You need both sides to keep trying to keep the relationship alive.” 

"Wow, that was some advice,” Mino murmured, then said sincerely, “I think you two are a great couple. Jinwoo chuckled and plucked his now-empty cup from his hand to wash and dry, deaf to Mino's attempts to help him. 

"Seunghoon's been giving you a lot of pressure, hasn't he? He likes you though, I can tell. He's just really protective of Seungyoon. After their parents' marriage, I think he was all he had for a while." Jinwoo paused for a moment, deep in thought, then turned his bright smile back on Mino. "Good night, Mino. Try to get some sleep."

Mino nodded, considering his words. They left the kitchen and Jinwoo turned out the light. Mino bid the older boy good night and noted, as he ventured down the darkened hallway, that the shower was now silent. 

He turned the knob of the room, and, sure enough, found Seungyoon snuggled under the covers on the bed, clad in a too-large T-shirt. In some distant corner of his mind, Mino appreciated the effort he'd gone to to wear a shirt to bed, and inwardly thanked him for sparing him the potential heart attacks. Mino bent down and rummaged around in the overnight bag he'd left on the floor for a change of clothes, trying his best to stay quiet for Seungyoon. He found a shirt and a pair of loose sweatpants and exited the room briefly to change out of his tight, starchy dress clothes (that he'd worn to impress Seunghoon, as if he was Seungyoon's actual boyfriend going to meet his actual parents) and into the more comfy ones. He patted down his hair, turned off the light. Hesitated, then slid into the space on the bed beside Seungyoon. 

The bed was soft, and Mino's body dipped the mattress as he lay down. He stared at the wall in the darkness, back facing Seungyoon, half his body hanging off the bed, and wondered how the hell he was going to survive the night. 

But he was still buzzed, slightly drunk off the soju and the quiet stillness of the room; so he didn't question it when Seungyoon muttered, "this is stupid", turned over, and shifted closer to Mino. He didn't question it when Seungyoon tugged him more fully onto the bed, fingers incredibly gentle and soft against his skin. He didn't question it when he felt his weight against his back, warm and reassuring. 

"Good night, Mino," Seungyoon murmured sleepily. 

Mino swallowed. Thought for a moment. Closed his eyes.

"Good night, Seungyoon."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have a lot of feelings about sleeping minyoon 
> 
> anyway! leave some comments and kudos and tell me what you think, see you next chapter~


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> remember when i said this was probably gonna be 3 or 4 chapters...well i was wrong
> 
> take it as a slice of life thing. things will happen and they'll change with the story. i've got some ideas :)
> 
> read the notes at the end alright there's something i wanna tell everyone reading this <3
> 
>  
> 
> [my twitter is here](http://www.twitter.com/yooniesam)

Mino woke up warm.  
  
Strange, really. It was fall, and every morning for the past month had gotten colder and colder. Mino had stayed stubbornly buried under the bedspread until the last alarm on his phone went off and he had to pull himself regrettably out of his blankets.  
  
He was hugging something soft and squishy. It was comfortable, so he nuzzled further into it with a drowsy smile, content. He didn't want to get out of bed yet, and—  
  
"M-Mino?"

Mino’s eyes flew open. Seungyoon’s surprised gaze stared back at him. Right. Seungyoon. Bed.

He untangled himself from Seungyoon hastily, blood sloshing around inside his head a little as he sat up in bed, as far as he could get from Seungyoon and his pretty lips and pretty eyes and adorable sleep-ruffled hair. The clock beside him read 9am in the morning in cheerful digital numbers, and it took a moment before the unfamiliar room before him stopped swimming and settled. Seungyoon’s brother’s house. Seunghoon. Jinwoo.

“Good morning,” Seungyoon yawned, sitting up as well, the wide collar of his T-shirt hanging loose over one shoulder to expose the ridge of a collarbone. Mino greeted him back nervously.

“Last night, do you think…” He started, then trailed off unsurely, casting a side glance at Mino. He was asking for confirmation, or denial, Mino realised. If he played dumb, pretended he didn’t remember anything that’d happened, pretended he didn’t remember the kiss, Seungyoon would act like he forgot too. He was giving him an out. But Mino didn’t want to take it, leave that gaping chasm the size of their unspoken words between them.

The best way was to be honest, and civil.

“I hope you didn’t mind. The kiss, I mean,” Mino said quickly. “It was for the act after all. Seunghoon was convinced, anyway.”

Seungyoon smiled, swung his legs over the side of the bed and got up.

“Yeah, it was pretty convincing.”

Mino’s heart hurt, curiously.

 

~~~

Breakfast was a quiet affair, broken only by Seunghoon’s complaints of a throbbing headache and Jinwoo’s gentle placation. Taehyun looked worse for wear, stuffing cereal crankily into his mouth and yawning widely every few seconds. Mino didn’t mind. It was a welcome change to memories of sitting opposite his sister Danah at the dining table in the mornings before school, trying to ignore the two empty chairs beside them. Danah had learned to cook, because Mino had been terrible and had resorted to half-hearted bowls of Lucky Charms each day. He’d never been good at being a responsible older brother, really, and it was one of his deepest regrets that he wasn’t someone Danah looked up to, but had to look out _for_. Although, not as deep as the wistfulness he felt whenever he passed by his parents’ home slippers at the door, long exchanged for stiff, shiny work shoes in the wee hours of dawn.

It’s reminiscent and new all at once, crowded around a table in the morning with four others close enough to touch and speak. These were the kind of mornings Mino’d never experienced, and this one felt particularly close to heart.

“You're going back to Yonsei later right?” Seunghoon waved a spoon at Seungyoon. He nodded. Seunghoon continued. “I’ll come with you. I miss the campus, and I’ve got some paperwork to sort out.”

Seungyoon shrugged, carried on eating.

An hour later, they were on the subway back to campus with Seunghoon and Jinwoo in tow, Seunghoon chattering excitedly about the cherry blossoms and Oriental-style monuments and even the gritty subway station that he’d missed. “The signs are in hangul,” he wept. “I haven’t read hangul signs in a year.”

He was a little like a tourist in his own land, fascinated by the familiarity of home and reveling in the feeling of return. Seunghoon was shaping up to be much more than Seungyoon’s scary older brother, and Mino liked his excitable and friendly personality. Given time, he thought, they could be good friends.

“We have a shift later at one, don’t we?” Seungyoon looked to Mino and Taehyun for confirmation, and Taehyun nodded. It was approaching eleven in the morning, and they had some time before they had to go for work.

“I’ll come to your cafe later with Jinwoo-hyung, alright? I need to know all about what happened with my little brother while I was away,” Seunghoon cooed and ruffled Seungyoon’s hair and Seungyoon tried to duck out of his reach. Mino was quickly realising Seunghoon’s seemingly-overbearing affection for his Seungyoon and Seungyoon’s faux-displeasure at his excessive skinship was a key dynamic of the brothers’ relationship.

Taehyun noticed him watching the siblings and gave him a resigned smile in response.

 

~~~

Mino hadn’t banked on Seunghoon instantly telling everyone he knew at Yonsei that Mino and Seungyoon were dating. Neither had Seungyoon probably, which was why Mino found himself once again pushed into a private corner with Seungyoon during their break at the cafe, and for ironically similar reasons.

Seunghoon had told a lot of people, out of some weird sense of brotherly pride, and Seungyoon was _not_ amused.

“I got a texts from like, ten people, even Jiho-hyung, god, if even he thinks we’re dating then how many other people know? How does Seunghoon even know him? He’s in music, and Seunghoon’s in humanities, for god’s sake. Why does my brother know everyone?”

Mino placed a placating hand on Seungyoon’s arm as he gesticulated wildly, holding up his phone to Mino’s face. A chat window was open on the screen, and the messages went like this:

**Zicooo-hyung**

**Received 2.36pm**

yo i heard from hoon u and mino are tgt

 

**Zicooo-hyung**

**Received 2.36pm**

congrats i didn’t think u had it in u. say hi to mino for me

 

**Seungyoon**

**Sent 2.37pm**

shit

 

**Zicooo-hyung**

**Received 2.38pm**

oh was it a secret

 

**Zicooo-hyung**

**Received 2.38pm**

shouldn’t have told seunghoon then lol

 

“Yeah I got the same text. Jiho-hyung won’t let it go that easily,” Mino said wryly. “So what do you want to do?”

“We could broadcast to the entire school that we’re not really dating and it was all a hoax to get my brother out of my hair about my love life,” Seungyoon suggested sarcastically, then sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “Or we could just… go on fake-dating? Until everyone forgets we’re together and then we can quietly fake-break-up and pretend nothing happened.”

“That’s a terrible idea.”

“Do we have a choice.”

“I guess not.”

“Okay, that’s settled. See you, sweetie.” Seungyoon winked as he left the backroom to replace Taehyun for his break.

“Don’t call me that,” Mino yelled after him, without much bite behind his words.

~~~

 

Seunghoon came by with Jinwoo an hour later, still bubbling over with excitement and energy. Mino wondered if he ever ran out of happiness and positivity, then decided it would mean something had seriously upset him and banished the thought from his mind.

“I shouldn’t let Jinwoo-hyung use Google Maps ever again, he got us so lost,” Seunghoon complained as he plopped himself down at the table closest to the counter. Jinwoo shot him a glare from where he was examining some cakes in the display case with something almost akin to awe. Seungyoon emerged from the back presumably upon hearing his brother’s voice, reaching for Mino’s hand almost defensively as soon as he saw Seunghoon. Mino wanted to laugh at how ridiculous the entire situation was.

“What would you like today, sir?” Taehyun inquired in a mock-formal tone. “I recommend the caramel macchiato, personally.”

“Very well, I’ll have one of those,” Seunghoon replied equally seriously. Jinwoo waved Seungyoon over to the display case to point out a slice of chocolate cake before padding over to Seunghoon’s table and seating himself, leaning his head on the younger’s shoulder comfortably. Mino felt a subconscious smile creep over his face.

“Here is your macchiato, most revered sir,” Taehyun said imperiously and set the drink in front of Seunghoon with a lavish bow. Seunghoon got up and curtsied. The rest erupted into giggles.

 

~~~

Seunghoon and Jinwoo finally left when Seungyoon insisted they had to close up shop. He went after blowing his little brother a kiss and circling his arms to meet on top of his head to form a heart shape. Seungyoon waved him off, closed the door and leaned against it in exhaustion. Mino flipped the “open” sign around to “closed”.

Clean-up was slow. Seungyoon cleaned out the back and Taehyun and Mino wiped down the tables. He was in the middle of scrubbing at a particularly tough spot of coffee when Taehyun spoke.

“So, I heard you guys are gonna keep up the fake-boyfriend thing.”

“...So you heard. Yeah, I guess. It’ll seem weird to break up now.”

“Hmm.”

Taehyun seemed to consider the notion for a moment then winked at him almost secretively.

“Just make sure you don’t actually fall in love with him.”

Mino threw his dirty rag at him.

~~~

 

Life went on, as life did. Life had also, interestingly, changed. He found Seungyoon outside his classrooms more often, chattering companionably about lunch. He found more frequent texts from Seungyoon on his phone, usually funny cat gifs and awful puns he’d heard from one classmate or the other. He found that talking to Seungyoon was calming and comfortable, and at some point they’d begun wishing each other good morning and good night. They hung out more, especially since Mino had discovered he literally lived two blocks from Seungyoon and Taehyun, and he didn't mind Taehyun’s company as well. When they met up outside, they usually just studied; Mino thought his grades might have gone up slightly since he started spending time with Seungyoon.

Things were fine. People thought they were dating, it got some girls off Mino’s back (he didn’t know about Seungyoon, but he suspected he had his own fanclub around the school as well), and he’d made some new friends. He didn’t mind playing as Seungyoon’s boyfriend in public because they never really had to do anything beyond hang out anyway. He could work with the arrangement.

Until Taehyun fell in love.

He should have seen it coming, really. Taehyun’d been absentmindedly gushing about this girl for ages, even if it hadn’t seemed obvious at the time.

Taehyun was in love, and he was begging them to come with him a double date.

“You know we’re not actually dating, Taehyun. What the hell.” Mino sighed and rubbed at his temple. It was going to be a long night.

“Please? I can’t ask Seunghoon-hyung and Jinwoo-hyung, it’ll be like going to dinner with my parents.”

“We’re. Not. Dating. What part of that don’t you understand?”

“Aww, help a friend out. I’ll ask Seungyoon when he gets back, too. He’ll help me.”

“Don’t think he’ll agree either. Anyway, won’t she mind that she’ll basically be going to dinner with 3 dudes?”

“Nah, she’s pretty open. I mean, I wouldn’t like her otherwise. Come on, please?”

There was the sound of fumbling keys from the doorway then, and Taehyun yelped and jumped up to ambush Seungyoon at the doorway. Mino watched their exchange closely, hoping to God Seungyoon wouldn’t say yes. He could be too nice at times.

But Taehyun bounced back with a smug grin on his face and Mino turned his horrified gaze of _what did you do_ to Seungyoon. Seungyoon smiled weakly. Taehyun waved his phone triumphantly.

“Trust me, I’ve got a lot of dirt on him,” Taehyun revealed.

“This is blackmail,” Seungyoon whined.

  
“ _What_ ,” Mino said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you made it!
> 
> i honestly wanted to try something with in-love taehyun i think he'd be really cute. I'll bring jinhoon back later in the story, sorry to all jinhoon shippers :')
> 
> and i wanted to say i'll be participating in winnerween 2016! i got a really cute prompt and i'm not allowed to say anything about it, but i'm looking forward to writing it :) if you haven't heard of winnerween before, [click here](https://twitter.com/winnerween)! fics will be uploaded on ao3 ^^
> 
> that's all for now, thank you for being patient and sticking with me; see you next chapter <3
> 
> (((comments and kudos make my day)))

**Author's Note:**

> who do you think is seungyoon's brother??? find out next chapter :D
> 
> i hope you enjoyed this if you did pls comment and let me know, as well as where i can improve! (and kudos pls)
> 
> see you~


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